N is for Naive
by nicol-leoraine
Summary: A post-ep for 2.16 Women with Guns. Jamie and Danny talk.


**A/N:** Written for the alphabet_soup challenge over at LJ. Prompted and beta read by Tania.

**N is for Naive**

Jamie was in the kitchen, helping Henry with the dishes and only halfheartedly trying to figure out why his siblings had so much fun ribbing his father. There must've been a joke somewhere, something funny that had happened during the week that he'd missed. But his grandfather only winked at him and hinted at a woman. Jamie frowned, and then let out a sigh in defeat. While he could've used the laughs, he really didn't feel the need to play cop at home to find out. If his dad wanted to let him know, he would.

"Are you alright, Jamie?" The older Reagan asked, as Jamie failed to inquire further.

Jamie looked up from the plate he was drying and put on a small smile."I'm fine, grandpa. Just had a bad week."

"You know you can talk to me about anything. Or your father. Are you in trouble?"

"Not anymore," Jamie said with a sigh and then put down the plate and the dishtowel. "Look, I'll talk to dad, when the others leave. I don't want to ruin the mood. It's okay, really," he added when the look of concern deepened on Henry's face.

"I'll take your word for it. Well then, why don't you take Danny and go shoot some hoops? I think he could use the exercise, and maybe he will let something slip about _his_ week. I'm sure you would find it quite enlightening," Henry said with a smirk and Jamie couldn't help but return the smile.

"That's not a bad idea, gramps."

"I wouldn't offer it otherwise," Henry rolled his eyes and ushered Jamie out.

The game with Danny managed to take Jamie's mind off of the past week, making him blush at times, laugh at others. He would have some good ribbing material against his father for the foreseeable future. And he was quite curious about Melanie.

"You think he'll bring her to the family dinner sometime?" He asked just as Danny was about to shoot the ball, successfully distracting his brother and grabbing the ball from him.

"Hey, that was low." Danny protested and Jamie laughed and shrugged when the ball slid effortlessly through the hoop.

"Maybe. But my question stands. Do you think dad will want to introduce her to us?"

"Why? She already knows the best of the Reagan's."

"You mean dad, right?"

"I was talking about me, of course," Danny said snottily and Jamie laughed.

"Well, if you haven't scared her off, then she's a keeper."

"Brat," Danny threw the ball at Jamie and smirked as it bumped off Jamie's shoulder. "Man, I hope you have better instincts out on the job, kiddo. Did you never learnt how to duck?"

While usually Jamie would bite back a retort, right now he only clenched his jaw and turned away, going after the ball. Danny frowned.

"So, how was your week?" He asked out of the blue and when Jamie tensed, he knew there was something they needed to talk about.

"Kid? Talk to me."

Jamie sighed and threw the ball at the hoop angrily, not caring if it went in. He cursed and went to sit on the porch steps, looking anywhere but at Danny. Danny sat down right next to him, worried by the sudden outburst. He gave Jamie a quick once over, looking for any hidden injuries that might've explained a bust gone wrong, but there was nothing, only tension and anger. And doubt.

"Come on. I told you about my week. Turnabout is fair play. You look like you killed someone," Danny tried to joke, but to his horror Jamie only nodded.

"What the hell happened?" Danny asked, his voice instantly serious, while he tried to push back the sudden spike of worry. "I didn't hear about any officer involved shooting. And dad doesn't know... Does he?"

"No, he doesn't. And it wasn't a shooting, well, not one involving the police anyway."

"Spill it kid, before my hair turns gray from worry."

Jamie looked at Danny, raising an eyebrow."Here I thought you were more concerned by the receding hairline," Jamie said with serious tone and Danny smacked him in the shoulder.

"Watch it. My hair is superb and it's staying where it is. Unless you decide to scare the hell out of me every other week. Now really, what went down?"

"Johnny Tesla."

"The guy who beat the hell out of you?" Danny asked, not looking at all regretfully. "Bastard deserved it. Who offed him?"

Jamie scowled at his brother's exclamation, the dinner in his stomach turning to stone.

"Obviously, Jimmy Riordan," he gave Danny his undercover alias.

"But you didn't kill him," Danny stated matter-of-factly.

"I didn't pull the trigger, but I might as well have," Jamie admitted, looking at the ground.

"They found out about the files I copied, they just didn't know who was responsible. They started pushing for information and Johnny panicked, spilling everything to Bianca, talking trash about her family. She went to Uncle Phil and started asking questions. Of course, Sanfino wasn't happy about it and asked who told her, and she let Tesla's name slip. When Sanfino went ballistic, she tried warning Johnny but it was too late. Bianca panicked and called me."

"God kid, I hope you called it in," Danny whispered and Jamie shot him a look.

"Of course I did. I'm not an idiot, Danny. We had no information about Johnny being dead, the street was quiet. So lieutenant Arboghast wanted me to meet with Bianca and find out what she knew. See if it was a trap. I went in, she told me what happened and I left. I realized right away that they had killed Johnny because of me, Danny. What was worse, everyone knew that Johnny beat the crap out of me and that I had a reason to go after him. It was a matter of time before they tried to pin it on me, and the fact Bianca called me... It didn't look good."

"What did you do?"

"What could I do? The next day I had eighteen missed calls from Noble! He wanted to meet. Bianca left the hotel shortly after me and no one knew where she was. They knew I was the last one to speak to her. The family wanted to talk to me. Noble said he would handle it, but he needed to know what happened. So I talked to him. He didn't trust me, wanted to see my cell phone. I pushed him away, played the angry card and took off."

Danny let out a sigh. His little brother was in a hell lot of a trouble and it looked like no one from the family knew. Images of what could've gone wrong popped into Danny's mind and he wanted to strangle Jamie's undercover boss more than ever for putting his brother in this situation. And how the hell didn't his father already know about this?

"I was scared, Danny. I hightailed it right back to the office and wanted out. Hell, when my phone started ringing and I saw Noble's number, I didn't even have to pretend anything. It was a shitty situation and I panicked."

"They should've pulled you out right after you got them the files," Danny growled, promising himself a little chat with Jamie's boss. Jamie must've seen it on his face because he shook his head resolutely.

"Oh no, you won't Danny. This isn't high school where you can bully some guys from taking my lunch and solve all problems. This is my job. I went into it voluntarily."

"He should've pulled you the minute you said the word, Jamie."

"No, he shouldn't have. I panicked, that was all. It was my first time. It's no big deal, Danny."

Danny didn't seem to agree, but he let the subject slide for a moment. He was sure that once his father knew, the commissioner would have a little chat with Jamie's boss anyway. For not being kept in the loop about the situation, if nothing else.

"So you met with Noble and made friends with him or what?" Danny grumbled, eager to know the whole story.

"He took me to the meeting. At first he thought it would be just a talk but then he saw their hitter there and knew I was in trouble. He tried to stand up for me, not that it helped any. It was a really fucked up situation."

"How did you get out?" Danny asked between gritted teeth. The only thing stopping him from busting after Jamie's boss was the fact that Jamie was sitting right next to him, alive and unharmed.

"Aborghast arrived with the cavalry, arresting Jimmy Riordan as a suspect in Tesla's murder. I gave them a little show about being set up and that was it. Happy ending and all."

There was silence between them as Danny tried to calm down and Jamie waited for him to tell him how stupid he was. After a while Danny snorted and squeezed Jamie's shoulder.

"You did good kid."

"What?" Was all Jamie could say. "Are you serious?" He shook his head, disgusted. "A guy died because of me! And we still don't know where Bianca is, if she fled or if they killed her too!"

"He was a scumbag. And you didn't kill him, Jamie. The family did. As for Bianca... They wanted to know where she was too. Doesn't look like they killed her."

"Is that supposed to make me feel better? God Danny, I was so naive," Jaime said with a grimace.

"I knew that being a cop meant risking my life. I know I can get killed in the line of duty. I know I might have to shoot a perp to save myself or my partner, or some bystander. But I didn't realize that I could get someone killed just by doing my job!" Jamie jumped to his feet and started pacing the small backyard. Danny stood up too and stepped into his way, arms grabbing his shoulders.

"Hey, kid. Listen to me." Jamie fumed but didn't try to get out of the grip."This wasn't some innocent bystander getting killed because you pulled the trigger a little too late. Tesla beat the crap out of you just because he wanted to. Now imagine what would've happened if he had found that memory stick on you?"

"I would be dead," Jamie muttered.

"Right. I figure Tesla didn't get into the family business by helping some old lady cross the street. While that doesn't mean he should've been killed, I won't be shedding any tears for him. You on the other hand," he mussed up Jamie's hair affectionately, and then pulled his brother into a hug.

"Get off," Jamie said but didn't try to push him away. After a moment that Danny deemed long enough the make Jamie squirm in embarrassment, he pulled away.

"Shit happens. You knew the risks getting into the op and Tesla knew the risks joining the family business. It's not your fault."

"What if next time someone else gets killed because I was doing my job?" Jamie asked a little sheepishly and Danny thought about the right answer. There really wasn't one that came to mind. He couldn't protect Jamie all the time and couldn't promise that nothing bad would come his way. Neither of them was naive enough to believe false platitudes, not after Joe's death.

"Look kid, the job is hard. But whatever happens? This family will back you up, all the time."

"Thanks," Jamie said and let out a sigh.

"So you ready to talk to dad?" Danny asked, sensing that Jamie was more relaxed now than he'd been all day.

"About the case? I think that's best left for the evening cigar and the bottle of scotch," Jamie snorted. "But I think it's high time to give him _the_ talk."

"What, the one about birds and the bees?" Danny laughed out loud and patted Jamie on the back. "Now that's something I don't want to miss."

**The End**


End file.
